With awards season in full swing, Grindr decided to toss its jimmy hat into the ring with its Best of 2012 Awards, celebrating the year’s most influential gay icons and trendsetters, as voted on by Grindees all over the world.
“Grindr guys are always at the forefront of what’s trending and impacting gay culture,” said Joel Simkhai, Founder and CEO of Grindr. “With their fingers on the pulse on what’s important and impressing them the most, our guys are watching Modern Family, getting their gossip from TMZ and rocking out to ‘Call Me Maybe.’ In addition, they’ve chosen some significant gay icons from 2012, including Anderson Cooper and Orlando Cruz for his famous and inspirational coming-out story.”
Okay, maybe “at the forefront” is a bit of a stretch, but the national winners of the Best of 2012 Awards are at least at the foreground of mainstream gay culture:
- Gay icon of the year: Anderson Cooper
- Straight ally of the year: Barack Obama
- Best TV show: Modern Family
- Best TV host: Ellen DeGeneres
- Best source for gossip: TMZ
- TIE for best comedian: Kathy Griffin and Margaret Cho
- Best athlete: Orlando Cruz
- Movie of the year: Magic Mike
- Song of the year: “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen
- Gadget of the year: iPhone 5
Grindr also surveyed guys in ten major US cities with traditionally large gay populations on topics such as their favorite local hangouts, best places for a first date and favorite drag queens. Noticeably absent is “Best places for a NSA hookup”, but we guess “Gym with the hottest guys” is close enough:
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Gym with the hottest guys:
- Fitness SF (San Francisco)
- Vida Fitness (Washington, D.C.)
- David Barton Gym, Chelsea (New York)
- 24 Hour Fitness (Denver)
- Boston Sports Club (Boston)
- FFC Fitness (Chicago)
- Equinox (Los Angeles)
- 24 Hour Fitness (Houston)
- Club Fitness (St. Louis)
- 24 Hour Fitness (Dallas)
- Salon Baobao (San Francisco)
- Bang Salon (Washington, D.C.)
- Astor Place Barber Shop (New York)
- Floyd’s 99 Barber Shop (Denver)
- Barbershop Deluxe (Boston)
- Chicago Male (Chicago)
- Shorty’s Barber Shop (Los Angeles)
- Sports Clips (Houston)
- Paul Mitchell Salon (St. Louis)
- Supercuts on Lemmon (Dallas)
- Castro (San Francisco)
- Lauriol Plaza (Washington, D.C.)
- Central Park (New York)
- TIE: Red Rocks and Linger (Denver)
- Club Cafe (Boston)
- Wood (Chicago)
- The Grove (Los Angeles)
- Boheme Café and Wine Bar(Houston)
- Forest Park (St. Louis)
- West Village (Dallas)
- Jock Sundays at the Lookout (San Francisco)
- Drag Brunch at Nellie’s Sports Bar (Washington, D.C.)
- Griffin Sundays at the Griffin (New York)
- Legendary Beer Bust at Wrangler (Denver)
- Fritz (Boston)
- Sidetrack (Chicago)
- The Abbey (Los Angeles)
- Crocker (Houston)
- Just John’s (St. Louis)
- The Grapevine (Dallas)
- Badlands (San Francisco)
- Town Dance Boutique (Washington, D.C.)
- Therapy (New York)
- X Bar (Denver)
- Club Cafe (Boston)
- Roscoe’s (Chicago)
- The Abbey (Los Angeles)
- F Bar (Houston)
- Just John (St. Louis)
- The Round-Up Saloon (Dallas)
- Mike at Lookout (San Francisco)
- Carlos at JR’s (Washington, D.C.)
- Jacob at G (New York)
- Kurt at Tracks (Denver)
- Joe Jovelle (Boston)
- Linda Little (Chicago)
- Anthony Saldana (Los Angeles)
- Leo at South Beach (Houston)
- Christian Lucas (St. Louis)
- Dylan Brown (Dallas)
- Beatbox (San Francisco)
- Bear Happy Hour at Town (Washington, D.C.)
- Alegria (New York)
- Thursdays at Tracks (Denver)
- Epic Saturdays at the House of Blues (Boston)
- Northalsted Market Days (Chicago)
- Rasputin (Sat., Los Angeles) / Stripper Circus at Here Lounge (Wed., Los Angeles)
- Saturday Nights at South Beach (Houston)
- Attitudes Nightclub (St. Louis)
- Purple Party (Dallas)
- Haute Toddy (San Francisco)
- TIE: Matt Bailer and Shea Van Horn (Washington, D.C.)
- Corey Craig (New York)
- Sean O’Grady (Denver)
- Richie LaDue (Boston)
- Phil DaBeatz (Chicago)
- Josh Peace (Los Angeles)
- Joe Ross (Houston)
- Charlie Buttons (St. Louis)
- Brandon Moses (Dallas)
- Pollo Del Mar (San Francisco)
- Shaquita Lee (Washington, D.C.)
- Bianca Del Rio (New York)
- Nina Flowers (Denver)
- Katya Zamolodchikova (Boston)
- Frida Lay (Chicago)
- Raven (Los Angeles)
- Kofi Cakes (Houston)
- Dieta Pepsi (St. Louis)
- Krystal Summers (Dallas)
- Scott Wiener (San Francisco)
- Barack Obama (Washington, D.C.)
- Anderson Cooper (New York)
- Corky Blankenship (Denver)
- Elizabeth Warren (Boston)
- Bill Pritchard (Chicago)
- John Duran (Los Angeles)
- Annise Parker (Houston)
- Leon Braxton (St. Louis)
- James Doyle (Dallas)
Best local gay news outlet:
- The Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco)
- Metro Weekly (Washington, D.C.)
- Next Magazine (New York)
- OutFront Colorado (Denver)
- EdgeBoston.com (online, Boston) / Bay Windows (print, Boston)
- Windy City Times (Chicago)
- Frontiers (Los Angeles)
- OutSmart Magazine (Houston)
- The Vital Voice (St. Louis)
- Dallas Voice (Dallas)
Did you vote in Grindr’s Best of 2012 Awards or did you just dismiss that pop-up ’cause you had, um, bigger fish to fry?
yaoming
Denver, Houston, and St. Louis are on this list, but Seattle isn’t? What’s up with that?
boring
“Grindr guys are always at the forefront of what’s trending and impacting gay culture,”
Should really read
“Grindr guys are always at the forefront of what’s trending and impacting gay culture. And 12-year-old girls.”
jwrappaport
Not enough Philly. Too much Obama. Shoulda voted!
Ben
Yay for Anthony Saldana. Sad though that there are over 10 profiles of him as people steal his images.
Viv
“Best source for gossip”…. “Gym with the hottest guys”… How can we expect to have equal rights when we are represented as shallow, alcoholic sex-addicts?
Not all of us use Grindr for sex, club suggestions, gym buddies, or discussing the ‘fierceness’ of drag queens.
I resent this outrageous article.